Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-08-26
CONDOLENCES.
OCCASIONS WHEN NATURE SEEMED
TO AID MANS ElOQUENCE.

TO AID MANS ELOQUENCE.
Inspiriting Incident at the Dedication
of a Soldiers Monumental Mysterious
Occurrence at Gen. Grants Funeral.
An Easter Morning Service.
There are occasions when the forces of
nature seem to come to the aid of the elo-
ouence of man when he seeks to plant lofty
emotions in the minds of other men, or when
he commentaries some generous or noble
sentiment. There was an instance of this
strange genius of inanimate things for inspir-
ing condolences at the dedication Of the
soldiers monument at Arlington the other
day. The monument stands at a spot made
famous by the death of the patriots of Menot-
omy in the revolution, and its neighborhood
might easily be imagined to be haunted by
the spirits of any number of brave dead men
on such an occasion. The incident which
the Listener refers to occurred during the
reading OF Mr.. J. T. Trowbridge's poem.
The flag that fioated over the speakers stand
had, during the early part Of the reading,
hung limp and motionless, the wind having
seemingly died quite down. But when the
poet read this verse
Friends, living comrades, gather round,
And wave, ye Winds oh, gently wave
The flag they loved and died to save
Above our consecrated ground
and while the words were being uttered, a
sudden and strong gust Of wind seized the
dropping flag and swelled it out to its utmost
extension, causing it to snap in the breeze
The coincidence struck upon an audience
which had already been finely stirred by Mr.
Trowbridge's lines, and the assemblage burst
into applause.
AT GRANTS FUNERAL.
This incident recalls pretty occurrence at
the state house during the day of the funeral
of Gen. Grant which was, indeed, recorded
at the time, but is worth retelling. A salute
was being fired on the common in front Of the
state house. The discharge of the guns had
rung out and the air was full of the de-
donation, when those who had gathered in the
rotunda of the state house noticed that all the
battle flags preserved there dipped solemnly
and gracefully in their glass case toward the
SPOT from which the salute had come, as if by
a common and intelligent purpose. 1t was a
most astonishing circumstance TO those who
saw it,
flags TO dip, after the manner of the flag
salute, sharing in the honors that were being
done to the name and memory of Granta 1t
was a mystery until some one hit upon the
explanation that the supports of Doric hall
had been Jared by the firing of the guns, and
that the shock had started the old and de-
cayed framework that held the stats of the
flags just enough to make the structure dip
little toward the street and give the stimuli
taneous movement to the flags that all had
noticed As matter of fact, it was necessary
soon after to replace this framework with
sounder one. which now affords an oppor-
tunity to the flags to dip in patriotic salutation
when the guns are fired on the common.
A BEAUTIFUL INCIDENT
The Listener once witnessed very beauti-
full instance Of this sort of seemingly intelli-
gent condolences. 1t was at an Easter
morning service in an Episcopal church
Upon the altar there stood a large cross made
OF white carnations and other pure white
flowers In the midst of his sermon the
clergyman called up the image of the cross,
speaking of the bloody sacrifice upon it in
imprisoned words. As he began to do so,
the color of the white cross of flowers insen.
sibly deepened into red-a glorious red that
seemed to have fallen upon it from above
The congregation noted the change and sat
utterly hushed and awe stricken.
Then the clergyman went on to speak of
the ascent from the cross to a throne of glory,
when the color of the cross of flowers once
more insensibly changed, until it stood suf-
fused with the loveliest Of royal puppies. II
was vision of exalted beauty not to be for
gotten. What had caused this strange spec
tacle9 Simply the advance of the sun to
such a place in the heavens that it shone
through the colored windows Of the chancel,
passing its rays first through red and then
purple pane of glass in such way as to
suffuse the cross with the colors in turn
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